AUBURN – When the students go home for the summer the population here drops to just over 30,000, and on Sunday many of them mourned the loss of Korvotney Barber, the leading rebounder (347) and statistically the greatest defensive player in the SEC in 2009 (4.1 wins). Only Blake Griffin, DeJuan Blair and two other players matched his ability to dominate the offensive and defensive glass that season.

On Sunday, sources at Auburn University provided background information to Breitbart Sports on condition of anonymity in their time of mourning. They portrayed Barber as a leader of an incredibly close class of students brought in by then-coach Jeff Lebo. Barber reportedly never was a fan of the water, and therefore surprised at least one person recently by asking them to attend a beach trip this week.

The speculation was that he may not have been familiar with the red flags that warned against going into the area where he was found after an apparent drowning. While Auburn basketball has struggled most years since the days of Charles Barkley, Barber led a dominant run at the end of 2009 that made some consider Auburn an NCAA-bid worthy team.

The Tigers won eight of their last nine regular season games in the SEC, then beat Florida in the opening round of the SEC tournament before finally losing to Tennessee.After not getting an NCAA bid, the team won their first two NIT games before falling to Baylor in a 74-72 heart-breaker to finish 24-12, which prevented Barber from finishing his career in Madison Square Garden. 

Barber was one of only five players to finish among the top 20 BCS rebounders in the country on both the offensive and defensive glass. He grabbed 13.5 percent of all of Auburn’s misses, and 22.5 percent of all opponent’s misses en route to the conference high 347 rebounds (see leaders tables below). He was also nationally ranked in shot blocking according to www.kenpom.com, as he blocked 4.9 percent of two-point shots attempted by opponents.

He continued to be a strong player overseas, scoring 13.8 points and 8.0 rebounds per game for Istanbulspor in 2012, and an almost identical 13.2/7.4 for the Lugano Tigers in the past season.

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Top Off Rebounders Team OR% Rank Top Def Rebounders Team DR%
DeJuan Blair (both) Pittsburgh 23.6 1 Blake Griffin (both) Oklahoma 32.4
Dexter Pittman Texas 17.7 2 Cole Aldrich Kansas 28.5
Tracy Smith North Carolina St. 17.4 3 DeJuan Blair (both) Pittsburgh 27.8
Jon Brockman (both) Washington 15.6 4 Craig Brackins Iowa St. 26.6
JaMychal Green Alabama 15.6 5 Jon Brockman (both) Washington 25.7
Jordan Hill Arizona 15.4 6 Luke Harangody Notre Dame 25.4
Murphy Holloway Mississippi 15.1 7 Luke Nevill Utah 25.1
Chinemelu Elonu Texas A&M 14.1 8 Marshall Moses Oklahoma St. 23.9
Blake Griffin (both) Oklahoma 14.1 9 Brian Williams (both) Tennessee 23.9
Corey Raji Boston College 14 10 Jimmy Graham Miami FL 23.9
Mike Scott Virginia 13.8 11 Goran Suton Michigan St. 23.9
Ron Anderson Kansas St. 13.6 12 Mike Davis Illinois 23.7
Yancy Gates Cincinnati 13.6 13 Michael Washington Arkansas 23.5
Brian Williams (both) Tennessee 13.6 14 Ed Davis North Carolina 23.3
Korvotney Barber (both) Auburn 13.5 15 Damion James Texas 23.2
Dwayne Collins Miami FL 13.4 16 Trevor Booker Clemson 23.2
Taj Gibson Southern California 13.4 17 Wayne Chism Tennessee 23.2
Hasheem Thabeet Connecticut 13.4 18 Terrence Williams Louisville 22.8
Delvon Roe Michigan St. 13.3 19 Joe Krabbenhoft Wisconsin 22.6
Alfred Aboya UCLA 13.1 20 Korvotney Barber (both) Auburn 22.5